


Nighttime Stories

by Vivien



Category: The Strange Case of Starship Iris (Podcast)
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-15 03:21:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18065618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vivien/pseuds/Vivien
Summary: Every night cycle, Brian tries to sleep. Most every night cycle, he fails. When staying in bed proves impossible, he eases himself from the bunk he shares with Krejjh, trying his best not to wake his lover.He usually fails at this, too.





	Nighttime Stories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [antonomasia09](https://archiveofourown.org/users/antonomasia09/gifts).



Every night cycle, Brian tries to sleep. Most every night cycle, he fails. When staying in bed proves impossible, he eases himself from the bunk he shares with Krejjh, trying his best not to wake his lover.

He usually fails at this, too.

“Hey,” Krejjh says, sitting up and reaching for him.

“I was trying not to wake you.”

“I know. And I appreciate it like crazy. But remember what I told you a long time ago?”

“I can always wake you up. But I shouldn’t. That’s a crappy thing for a partner to do.”

“Whatever,” Krejjh says with a shrug and pats the bed. “Get back in here. Talk about words to me.”

Brian thumps his hand to his heart three times as he says, “Tzah-rahr-noo.” Then he slides back into bed, cuddling up to his partner.

“Okay, what was that all about,” says Kreijjh with a soft smile. 

“It’s something we atone for at the holiest day of the year. Yom Kippur. ‘We have caused our friends grief.’” He goes quiet, nuzzling into the firm chest of his favorite person in the galaxy.

Kreijjh knows what it means when Brian goes quiet like that. He needs words told to him instead of by him. “Have I told you about the Halls of Grief and the Night of Ritual?”

Brian shakes his head. “I don’t think so?”

“If you liked Dwarnian Hannukah, you’re going to love this.” Kreijjh cards their fingers through Brian’s hair. “Once every planet cycle, which is about two Earth years, as you know, we go to the Halls of Grief, wherever they might be in our provinces. Sometimes they’re buildings, but most of the time, the Halls are in caves. We go to the back, the darkest places, and we sit there, letting the blackness of the end of all things that will come for us one day embrace and hold. We ask the Great Parent for guidance, as we sit there, not able to see hands in front of our faces. We’re not afraid of the dark, but we’re respectful of it, because let me tell you, when you’re in that dark place, and there are hundreds of people but nothing but the softest of sounds, you know you’re a part of it. And you know everyone you love will be lost to that darkness where you can’t follow, and it will change everything.”

“Jeez, that’s a lot,” Brian snorts.

Kreijjh lightly thumps his shoulder. “I’m not done, Mr. ‘I beg forgiveness when I don’t need to’. So we sit there for a long time, until it feels like we’re really becoming one with that blackness, right then and there. But then you hear the Bells of the Felrek-jhen. They start off with just one tiny jingle, a barely heard sound muffled in the dark. One by one, we each take our own bells from our pockets, and when the whole amassed group is ringing their bells, the cacophony echoing through the cave, we start to slowly walk outside and stand under the stars. They give off the brightest light, and you just… stand there, with bells ringing, and you know the darkness has not come for you yet, and that for a little while longer, you have the hope of the starlight. Then we all go to our clan holdings and eat so much food that it is ridiculous. Because we live. We are in the darkness and we are in the light, and we live and thrive, and life is good.”

“That sounds beautiful,” Brian murmurs, his voice thick with encroaching sleep.

“It is. It really is.” Kreijjh cradles Brian’s head as his breathing grows slower and steadier. “One day…One day I’d love for you to experience it with me.”

That day may be long from now, but as Kreijjh nestles into the pillow, holding Brian close, the hope of the starlight unfurls within them.


End file.
